A new report to the European Parliament shows what needs to be done to address the obstacles that the European University alliances face.
The European Universities initiative (EUI) is going into its fourth year since the launch of the first call for proposal in 2019. Since then the initiative has changed, grown and taken centre-stage of the higher education policy in Europe. In 2022, the first Swiss higher education institutions (HEI) joined the alliances and contribute to the initiative (see SwissCore article). Over the last months, academic study and analysis of the initiative has picked up and the first studies are starting to be published.
24 January 2023 saw the publication of a report on the first lessons, main challenges and perspectives of the European Universities initiative. The report was commissioned by European Parliament’s (EP) CULT Committee and undertaken by the Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) of the University of Twente in the Netherlands. The report is in three parts: i. it evaluates the effectiveness of the selection and evaluation criteria of the call, ii. it evaluates the benefits and challenges of the alliances, and iii. it proposes scenarios for the future development of the EUI.
The report states that the selection process and criteria gave an advantage to large and established universities. This also corresponds to a recent data analysis done by the European Tertiary Education Register (ETER). The reason for this is the complex administrative procedures and benefit of having pre-existing strong international networks. Established, large universities have a greater capacity to respond to the criteria of contributing to the long-term vision of the EUI, which led to a self-selection effect in the first two calls (2019 and 2020). The subsequent calls for proposals that mostly supported the continuation and expansion of existing alliances (calls 2021 and 2022), however, attracted more diverse HEI with a better geographical balance. This is on the one hand due to the better knowledge of the initiative and its criteria, which remained largely the same over the four years, and on the other hand due to the mandatory selection criteria to include at least three HEI from three different Erasmus+ countries. Further, these two calls also enabled, for the first time, the participation of HEI from countries that are not associated to Erasmus+ but part of Bologna (European Higher Education Area), such as Switzerland. However, some imbalances remain: Large HEIs are still over-proportionally represented among the alliances, and linked to that, are mostly comprehensive universities. Specialised HEIs that cover three or fewer disciplines of study are strongly underrepresented.
The second chapter assesses the benefits and challenges of existing European University alliances. As the alliances are still in their early days, the impact on a systemic level is not yet measurable. But the report shows what benefits are to be expected: The alliance members anticipate that their attractiveness will increase on a local but also on an international level due to stronger international connections and new forms of learning (e.g. challenge-based modules). The participating HEIs also expect the quality of their education and of their research programmes to increase thanks to shared learning and exchange of best practises within the alliances (see EUI call document pages 8-9). Through the elimination of transnational cooperation obstacles, the alliances expect to see higher student and staff mobility rates. From the perspective of the European Commission, it is very clear that they consider the EUI an instrument to bring European integration and cohesion of the European Education Area (EEA) and the European Research Area (ERA), as well as the Bologna process, forward. The main challenge in this regard remains the fragmented regulatory framework for higher education in the European countries, and incompatibility of the national qualification frameworks. This is particularly relevant for the creation of joint degrees within the alliances, when setting up blended learning programmes or when it comes to micro-credentials. Simple factors, such as differences in academic calendars, can become important obstacles for transnational cooperation. Another major challenge that the report identifies relates to funding. The findings show clearly that the funding is not sufficient to ensure the sustainability and the achievement of the long-term objectives of the European University alliances. A main aspect in this regard is the uncertainty of the different funding streams (Erasmus+, Horizon, national co-funding, self-funding); it is yet unclear in what form the Commission will continue to fund the alliances after 2025, and national co-funding is fragmented, at different levels and with different conditions depending on each country. Lastly, there are challenges related to the governance of participating institutions, as each change in leadership could lead to a change in commitment to the alliance. This is especially relevant as the alliances are not considered mere projects but long-term strategic alliances with high investment costs and uncertain outcomes.
In the third chapter, the CHEPS report paints possible futures for the EUI. The scenarios show that the number of alliances will grow, and at the same time the costs linked to the regulatory obstacles will remain high. However, if the alliances consolidate they could be effective testing grounds for higher education. The scenarios also show that EUI will further integrate higher education across Europe.
In conclusion, the report recommends to create more certainty regarding the funding of university alliances, to better coordinate the regulatory framework, and to simplify the selection criteria. Further reports on the funding and on the impact of the European University Initiative are expected to be published in the coming months. The current call for the expansion of the European university alliances of the second wave will close on 31st January 2023.